En/clave de frontera


Book Description

Libro en Homenaje al profesor Urbano Viñuela en el que colegas y discípulos cruzan sus voces para ofrecer al compañero fallecido hace un par de años un afectuoso tributo en reconocimiento a una carrera profesional determinante para la consolidación y posterior desarrollo de los estudios americanos en la Universidad de Oviedo.




Challenging Fronteras


Book Description

Challenging Fronteras reflects an important new wave of research that moves beyond sweeping generalizations that treat Latinos as a monolithic cultural group. This anthology focuses on the diversity of Latino experiences by providing historical specificity and cutting-edge research that employs the conceptual and analytical tools of social science. Contributors, selected from leading researchers in Latino Studies, include Patricia Zavella, Suzanne Oboler, Alejandro Portes, Clara Rodriquez, Marta Tienda, Nestor Rodriquez, and others.




Cormac McCarthy


Book Description

Cormac McCarthy, the author of such works as Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, and The Road, is one of America's greatest living writers--an uncompromising examiner of the depths of human depravity, the nature of evil, and the bonds that endure. This companion is intended for both the scholar and lay reader seeking a comprehensive understanding of McCarthy's body of work. Alphabetically ordered entries offer analysis of novels, characters, motifs, allusions, plays, and themes, as well as commentary on events, people and places related to McCarthy scholarship. Most entries include a selected bibliography for further reading. A biographical introduction provides information on the life of this reclusive author, and discussion topics are provided as an aid for instructors.







US Public Diplomacy and Democratization in Spain


Book Description

When the post-war relationship between Spain and America began, Hitler's old ally was an unlikely candidate for US influence. The Cold War changed all this. Soon there were US bases on Spanish territory and a political conjuring trick was under way. This volume examines the public diplomacy strategies that the US government employed to accomplish an almost impossible mission: to keep a warm relationship with a tyrant without drifting apart from his opponents, and to somehow pave the way for a transition to democracy. The book's focus on the perspective of soft power breaks new ground in understanding US-Spanish relations. In so doing, it offers valuable lessons for understanding how public diplomacy has functioned in the past and can function today and tomorrow in transitions to democracy.




Religion in Cormac McCarthy's Fiction


Book Description

This book addresses the religious scope of Cormac McCarthy’s fiction, one of the most controversial issues in studies of his work. Current criticism is divided between those who find a theological dimension in his works, and those who reject such an approach on the grounds that the nihilist discourse characteristic of his narrative is incompatible with any religious message. McCarthy’s tendencies toward religious themes have become increasingly more acute, revealing that McCarthy has adopted the biblical language and rhetoric to compose an "apocryphal" narrative of the American Southwest while exploring the human innate tendency to evil in the line of Herman Melville and William Faulkner, both literary progenitors of the writer. Broncano argues that this apocryphal narrative is written against the background of the Bible, a peculiar Pentateuch in which Blood Meridian functions as the Book of Genesis, the Border Trilogy functions as the Gospels, and No Country for Old Men as the Book of Revelation, while The Road is the post-apocalyptic sequel. This book analyzes the novels included in what Broncano defines as the South-Western cycle (from Blood Meridian to The Road) in search of the religious foundations that support the narrative architecture of the texts.




Teorizando en educación: entre erudición, poesía y opinionitis


Book Description

Podríamos convenir que en el cruce de la erudición, la ficción y la tertulia se vantejiendo las creencias y los supuestos a partir de los que cada cual forma su teoría educativa. Nos tememos que unas pueden tener más peso que otras: quizás las últimas, con su potencia mediática, sean más suculentas y de consumo rápido; seguramente las literarias tienen un alto poder explicativo y resultan siempre muy atractivas; sin duda, las eruditas suelen ser más aburridas y se alejan del gran público. En cualquier caso, lo que resulta notorio es que el bosquejo de la educación no es exclusivo de ninguna de estas aproximaciones teóricas: ni el sabio ni el artista ni el opinador amateur o profesional pueden atribuirse la exclusividad sobre la verdad en educación. Este libro debe leerse como una defensa corporativa de la pedagogía y está dedicado a sus practicantes, pedagogos y pedagogas –de ambos sexos, como exige la corrección política–, que se esfuerzan, también desde la buena fe, por intentar entender mejor la cosa educativa, quizás los más inofensivos, o por sugerir alivios para los males que la aquejan, los más atrevidos, fabricando las pócimas y los remedios más variados, no siempre del todo inocuos




forum for inter-american research Vol 1


Book Description

Volume 1 of 6 of the complete premium print version of journal forum for inter-american research (fiar), which is the official electronic journal of the International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS). fiar was established by the American Studies Program at Bielefeld University in 2008. We foster a dialogic and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Americas. fiar is a peer-reviewed online journal. Articles in this journal undergo a double-blind review process and are published in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.




Love, Language, Place, and Identity in Popular Culture


Book Description

Love, Language, Place, and Identity in Popular Culture: Romancing the Other explores the varied representations of Otherness in romance novels and other fiction with strong romantic plots. Contributors’ approaches range from sociolinguistics to cultural studies, and the texts analyzed are set on four continents, with particular emphasis on Caribbean and Atlantic islands. What all the essays have in common is the exploration of representations of the Other, be it in an inter-racial or inter-cultural relationship. Chapters are divided into two parts; the first examines place, travel, history, and language in 20th-century texts; while the second explores tensions and transformations in the depiction of Otherness, mainly in texts published in the early 21st century. This book reveals that even at the end of the 20th century, these texts display neocolonialist attitudes towards the Other. While more recent texts show noticeable changes in attitudes, these changes can often fall short, as stereotypes and prejudices are often still present, just below the surface, in popular novels. The understudied field of popular romance, in which the Other is frequently present as a love interest, proves to be a fruitful area in which to explore the potential and the realities of the treatment of Otherness in popular culture. Scholars of literature, communication, romance, and rhetoric will find this book particularly useful.




Sin fronteras


Book Description

Sin fronteras: Inclusive Spanish Grammar Guidebook is the first ever Spanish language text to teach non-binary and gender-neutral language. It is an invaluable resource for intermediate and advanced learners that offers concise explanations and exercises for the major clausal structures, tenses, and moods. Along with including non-binary and gender-neutral language, the volume also incorporates the voseo, or the use of vos as a second-person singular pronoun that is common in many Latin American countries. This book expands the scope of traditional grammar instruction by including tasks such as reading, writing, discussions, and independent research in order to support the development of the competencies necessary to thrive in the increasingly interconnected and diverse world. Sin fronteras is suitable for independent study or for supplemental use in conversation classes, classes for heritage speakers, classes with focus on the professions (e.g., medical Spanish, Spanish for business), and literature classes.